


Fishing

by Joking611



Series: Cari'ssi'mi Drabbles [12]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 03:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20575433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/pseuds/Joking611
Summary: Shepard is learning to take some time for herself





	Fishing

**Author's Note:**

> Set between Fragments chapters 19 and 20

If there was one thing that Liara was enjoying from their time on the farm, it was the feel of the dirt under her feet.

During her time in the field, it had usually been dirt on her _hands_, of course. She’d also worn through the knees of so many jumpsuits that she’d lost count long ago. But unlike many asari, she had no objection to getting dirty. She reveled in it, in fact.

Which was one reason she was carrying her shoes as she walked through the fields.

The light from Oramonc warmed her face as she made her way to the gorge that bordered the southern side of the Shepard farm. Sarah had taken to using the area as a refuge since the influx of House T’Soni staff from Thessia. Liara took it as a good sign.

For the entire time that Liara knew her, Shepard had always been one who avoided acknowledging her needs, instead working to ensure that others were provided for. She still tended to others first, but Sarah was also starting to acknowledge some of the emotions she’d been suppressing since she lost her family.

Part of that acknowledgment was being able to accept that she had _absolutely nothing she needed to do_. There was no mission to fulfill. The construction of the garrison proceeded without issue. Barrister Nagalia was handling the transfer of trusteeship, and in fact seemed to the enjoying overcoming the barriers that the local bureaucracy tried to place in her path. Liara herself had House T’Soni duties to attend to, but she made it a point to keep Sarah’s involvement to a minimum. That left Sarah with more free time than she’d probably had since joining the Alliance.

Sarah hadn’t taken long to gravitate towards solitary pursuits. Not entirely, of course. She greeted visiting neighbors warmly, seeming to enjoy catching up with those from her childhood, so long as the pirate attack wasn’t mentioned. The commandos joined her in her morning physical training. She also continued to bake various treats for Liara and whoever else happened to be in proximity. Most of the time however, Sarah could be found walking through the orchards, sitting on the front porch, or as today, at the gorge.

Usually with her drawing pad.

Liara had been happy to see that interest re-assert itself, despite being taken aback one morning when she woke to find Shepard drawing _her_. She’d been amazed at how perfectly Shepard had captured the scene, and adamant in her decision about that specific artwork never leaving her possession.

Liara arrived at the gorge’s edge, and was surprised that Shepard was nowhere to be seen. Normally she would find her leaning against the boulder a few meters back from the edge, drawing the opposing cliff face and the forest on the ridge above. Reflexively, she looked up into the tree above her. _That_ had been an interesting afternoon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

_She’d nearly reached the edge when she realized that Shepard wasn’t in her usual spot. Nor was Teseka, for that matter. She fought the dread rising within her. Liara wasn’t yet entirely comfortable in coming here, this place whose location she associated with the death of Shepard’s family through memories in the meld. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that there was nothing in the area that could harm Sarah. _

_“Shepard?” She called._

_Immediately there was a commotion above, the sound of rustling leaves and crashing limbs. She’d barely had time to look up before Sarah crashed to the ground practically at her feet, her pad, papers, and pencils cascading in a flurry around her._

_Shepard sat up, an embarrassed look on her face. “Ow,” she lamented, rubbing her backside._

_Liara knelt, checking Sarah for injury. “Are you all right?”_

_“I’m fine. Everything’s under control.” She stood shakily, bracing against Liara’s shoulder as Teseka landed lightly next to them._

_Liara straightened, looking at them both. “What happened?”_

_Sarah looked confused. “I fell, obviously.”_

_“Yes, I see that. How did you fall?”_

_“Well, you surprised me!” Sarah said accusingly. “I dropped my pencil, and when I went to grab that, my pad slipped off my lap, and when I tried to catch it, I lost my balance.” She shrugged sheepishly. “You know the rest.”_

_Liara tried to clarify. “But why didn’t you catch yourself with your biotics?”_

_Sarah looked nonplussed. “Well by the time I…” She hesitated. “I mean when…” She stopped again. “I guess I forgot to.”_

_Teseka pressed her lips together, obviously suppressing laughter._

_Shepard whirled on the commando. “This is your fault too, you know. You and your ‘Peeress, there is no way I can protect you from the ground if you insist on presenting so visible a target.’ That’s why I ended up on a different limb than usual because it needed to hold both of us.”_

_Liara squeezed the bridge of her nose, caught between laughter and frustration. “Perhaps we should all return to the house?”_

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

But Shepard was not in the tree today, fortunately. Liara stepped over to the gorge’s edge, and looked down.

There she was, maybe fifty meters away, sitting with her feet in the water of the river, Teseka standing a few meters upstream.

Teseka acknowledged her with a wave before she even started down, and it only took a couple of minutes to reach Sarah.

“Hello, Shepard.”

Sarah looked up with a grin. “Hey Liara.”

Liara sat next to Shepard on the large stone she was using as a platform. “Having fun?” She indicated the tablet that seemed to have had Sarah’s full attention.

“Well, I’ve made progress here at least.” She flipped through ten or so drawings of the river in front of them. “So that’s something.”

Liara cocked her head at Shepard’s tone. “Is something wrong?”

Sarah sighed. “No, not really.” Then she chuckled, indicating the small pile of gear next to her. “I had originally come out here to do some fishing.”

“Fishing, Shepard?” Liara normally associated fishing with ships and oceans, but she realized that fish technically did live in freshwater lakes and streams as well.

“Sure, you know.” She glanced at Liara, as if checking to see if she understood. “Fishing rod? Line? Hooks? Bait?” She made a pulling motion with her hands. “Catching fish?”

All right, maybe she didn’t understand. Then she had a revelation. “You mean catching fish _one at a time_?” Her experience has only been with nets.

“Well, yeah.”

“I apologize Shepard.” She glanced at the gear to Shepard’s side. “It just seems like a very complex endeavor to catch a single fish. I’m not sure I completely understand.”

“At this point I’m not sure I do either. John used to be able to pull fish out of this river as fast as he could put lines in the water.” She shook her head. “He made it look easy. One more thing we didn’t have in common, I guess.”

“So,” Liara paused to look around. “You did not ‘catch’ any fish?”

Sarah laughed self-deprecatingly. “Ah, no. Looks like I’ll need to make another plan for dinner.”

Liara was puzzled by the non sequitur. “Oh!” She exclaimed. “You intended to cook the fish?”

“Yes? Why else would I catch them?”

“I apologize again, Shepard. I thought this was merely an idle pursuit.” Liara slid off the rock and started walking into the river. “How many do we need?” She had no idea the number of fish that would be required for what Shepard had planned.

“Um,” Shepard stood as she looked from Liara, to her fishing gear, to an obviously amused Teseka, and back to Liara. “Don’t you want any of the…” She toed the gear at her feet.

“No need, Shepard,” she replied, eyes on the water. In a biotic flash her hand slipped in and out of the water faster than Sarah could blink, pulling with it what looked like a sixty centimeter trout. She looked up at Sarah. “Is this acceptable?”

Shepard’s jaw dropped in shock, causing her to take a moment before responding. “Uh, yes?”

“Good,” Liara nodded in acknowledgment. She loved when Shepard cooked fish.

“We’ll probably need twelve to fifteen, if you can manage.”

“That should not be difficult, Shepard.” Her eyes went back to scanning the water before going to Shepard. “Perhaps I could use the basket after all.” She indicated the item at Shepard’s feet.

_'Of course it isn't difficult'_ muttered Sarah as she walked the basket out to Liara. On the way she called to Teseka. “Could you have done that?”

“Yes, Peeress.”

“This is for you too, you know! You could at least have stopped me from making a fool of myself.”

“I could have, Peeress,” she agreed.

“I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”


End file.
